Iguazu Falls

They are so impressive I had to see them from every angle! I came down to Foz de Iguacu, Brazil, from Rio on Tuesday. I came with 3 friends (Chris, Cat and Noelle) I met in Rio. We arrived in the early afternoon, after a 24 hour bus ride (which really I am now getting used to -- and they are not too bad). First we went to the hostel and booked a room for the night -- they had a 4 bed dorm -- which was perfect -- and it had air conditioning -- yea!!!! From there we took a cab to the Park that the falls are in. Chris went to check out the helicopter cost, which got us all thinking about that possibility, but he did not go up just then. We thought it might be cheaper on the other side. (Brazil is quite expensive)

So we went into the park, took a bus to the falls, and viewed the most impressive falls I have ever seen. Words cannot describe them, so I will let the photos do the talking. I will simply say that they are so cool we viewed them, from Brazil, Argentina, a helicopter and a boat!

Basically the 1st day we just saw the falls then cooked ourselves dinner (home cooked food is sooooo good) at the hostel. The next day we went into Paraguay for about an hour (a border town to shop). After Paraguay we went to Itaipu the worlds greatest hydroelectric powerplant. It supplies 25% of Brazils power and 90% or Paraguay´s. It produces more power than the 3 gorges is supposed to at full capacity. The spill way was unreal -- the amount of water comming over was just insane. We also got to see the wildlife refuge that was built to help protect the lake created by the dam. They said that the entire area was flooded in only 2 weeks! After the dam we went to Argentina, and checked into possibly the world´s nicest hostel. Our dorm room (again only 4 beds and also air conditioned) is in a little cottage-like building, there is a large swimming pool, bar, free internet..... the list goes on and on. Today (Friday, February 23) we went back into Brazil (there IS NO helicopter on the Argentinian side) to fly over the falls -- that was unreal. First simply the helicopter ride was fantasitic, and the view was unbelievable. Noelle, Cat and I sat in the back seat of the helicopter and screamed whenever we turned, ´cause it felt like a rollercoaster. From there we crossed back into Argentina and went to the falls there for the closest possible look. We spent 6 hours wandering around the park photographing the falls, and riding in a large zodiac under them -- sooo much fun. What a great time!

In the Park around the falls there was tons of wildlife. The mammal is called a coatie -- it is really cute and eats fruit. They were everywhere. There were also millions of butterflies and moths, and lots of birds and lizzards. Take a look...